How do I compile and package the X Server code?

[Adam Jackson]

On Tue, 2019-02-12 at 17:22 +0100, Kevin Brace wrote:

> I am able to compile X Server, although I do not know at this point
> how to install it to my preferred location (I will like to install it
> to /opt for testing purposes).

https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.63/html_node/Default-Prefix.html

You will probably also want to override PKG_CONFIG_PATH in the
environment when building drivers against that server. Refer to the
pkgconfig documentation for details, but it's probably something like:

$ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/xorg/share/pkgconfig:/opt/xorg/lib64/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH

That said... in my experience, one of the pleasant features of using a
distribution is that you can reinstall packages. If I ever really do
want to test a new buld of Xorg (the only server where the install path
really matters) I just clobber the existing one, and when I'm done, dnf
reinstall xorg-x11-server-*.

> How do I install it to my preferred location and run the compiled
> version rather than the existing version?

If you're invoking the X server by hand, just do:

# /opt/xorg/bin/Xorg

Convincing your desktop environment's display manager to invoke that
one instead of the one in /usr/bin depends on the particular display
manager. (Not wanting to remember how to do this is part of the reason
I don't use prefixes...)

- ajax